Transatlantic car prices

I was yesterday on the phone with my friend François Feuz from Switzerland and as it always does when boys are talking, the conversation went into cars. François had told me he was getting a new automobile and I happened to be interested in the same brand and model, albeit a slightly different version. I told him how expensive that car was in the USA and my friend was shocked and told me how much more money it was in Europe. I wasn't nearly I surprised because I knew the dichotomy well enough to say that, German cars in particular, are heavily subsidized in North America, because it's their largest market in the world and they can't afford to let their competitor steal market share. While the automobile in question wasn't made in Germany and was a good old Volvo made in Sweden, the situation was exactly the same.

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Today, I checked on the internet, and found out that the same car (even a little bit better in its US version, with a larger motor and some extra features,) is priced a whopping 85% cheaper here than it is in Switzerland. We Americans thought that the Chinese were the only one lending us a hand and lending us money; well, they're not alone in supporting our spending spree, the Europeans are paying through the nose for for their autos so America still can afford driving Audis, BMWs, Mercedes and Porsches!

What should have Obama done?

We all know that insight is 20/20 and today, this ever-recurring lesson fully applies to President Obama. When he took office lat January 2009, Barack Obama did everything he could to be nice to the Republicans, by not going after the Bush-Cheney tandem for their ruinous and

uncalled for war in Iraq and the war crimes perpetrated in the process, agreed to place Tim Geithner and Larry Summer at the helm of the nation's financial and economic leadership, and kept digging a deeper hole into the hopeless Afghan war.

In response to these presidential “gifts,” the opposition party could only say “No,” “No” and “No.” Its obstructionist tactics worked perfectly because today, middle America doesn't understand why the President failed to pull a herd of rabbits out of his hat twenty month into his administration. The moral of that sad story is that when you believe in something, have a solid majority (which Obama had) you plow away and do what it takes to advance your agenda. There is hardly any room for compromise. There will be plenty of time to worry about the other side if you fail, and of course, successful leaders never consider that.

Can I live with American culture?

Yesterday, as I was chatting with Bernard Feeser, a former high-school mate, he asked me how I was coping with living in America along with its culture and if returning to France wasn't an option I had considered. A deep and very relevant question. I tried to answer it the best I could, but wasn't quite satisfied with what I might have told him, because I had never really thought through that whole idea. All started when, a long time ago, I had almost unconsciously made two commitments to myself; first, I was going to have a career that I would be passionate about and second, that I would live in a place I'd love.

From the get go, I knew I that the pieces of that puzzle wouldn't fall in place at once. There would be some patience required and I would have to jump through a series of hoops before I would have it tailor-made for me. My long-term goals were pretty simple; I wanted to take a shot at living in America and wanted to establish myself in “the best part of the Rockies” as I then phrased it.

While today is picture-perfect, there were challenges and pains along the way plus, I must add, quite a bit of good luck. I finally got what I wanted. Today, with all my family in America, my French culture still inside a corner of my head and easy access to the old continent thanks to the miracle of modern communications, what else more would I want?

Excellent teachers

As we were mountain biking yesterday morning, on two occasions we ran into a group of young high school guys trail running. My wife said to me: “We should have started that young...” I told her: “At that time I hated running and it gave me side aches!” I continued and said “...I wasn't that good either and my gym teachers all used to put me down.” That was it. That was true. Except for the time when I was in elementary school, I never had the good fortune to getting teachers that were nurturing, compassionate, encouraging and motivating.

Many of them could only recite a mumbo-jumbo of data without any regard for basic pedagogy; they were just talking, they were not having a conversation with their class. Some would even poke fun at their students' difficulties or ineptitude. This in large part is why I never understood math, physics or chemistry. I'm not making any excuses and don't harbor any rancor; I just look at this episode in my life quite coldly and objectively. To this day, I'm convinced that the ideal teacher is the one able to step into the student's shoes and makes a complex story understandable. That's what I call excellence in teaching.

The drudgery of flying

For someone who used to fly an awful lot, I'm now stunned how hard I find it to travel these days. It seems that the process is no longer half the fun it used to be and between long waits, obnoxious security checks, cramped seats and unhappy flight attendants, flying has stepped down below the train and the bus as a civilized mean of transportation. Sure, there's always the options of flying business or first class, but those are incredibly expensive compared to the basic fare and not really practical if some corporate entity won't pick up the tab or if there is no more fee miles left to pay for the upgrade. These observations are clearly leaving me with a much narrower horizon when it comes to my future travel plans, and frankly, I'll be able to live very well without jet-setting the world over. I live in a wonderful place and get all the things I love within minutes from my home. The airlines of the world, will now have to creatively work on some much better way to get me out of my palace more than once or twice a year!

The airport as a showcase

State tourism boards should always devote more attention and invest more money in what goes on at their airports that are mainly used by tourists. While folks generally don't spend much time at the any airport upon they arrival, they often end up killing quite a bit of time in these facilities when it's time to go home.

Several hours isn't uncommon and it's important to all tourist destinations saved by an airport to leave the best impression possible. That begin with the facilities and their infrastructure, their entire personnel as well as the various services that are offered on premises to all these visitors. That includes of course taxicabs, bus and limo drivers, airport police, airline gate agents, kiosk and food services employees, including the often infamous TSA staff.

How should these people be impacted? Training seminars for one thing along with perks available to them for “good behavior.” There are lots of hospitality training systems in existence that could be adapted for that need and somehow, this should involve a holistic effort between all stakeholders. I write this because my recent experience in New Orleans, where the second source of income is tourism leaves a lot to be desired, being nice isn't rocket science, it's the right thing to do, plus it doesn't have to cost a fortune!

Our cabbie from Jerusalem

When we left New Orleans, on our way to the airport, we got into a cab driven by a Palestinian who told us he came from Jerusalem and had worked in America for some 17 years. When we told him we were from Utah, he started asking about Mormonism and polygamy, a not-so-unusual question from folks who've never set foot in Utah and solely rely on media clichés. We proceeded to explain that only a minority of Mormons were indeed polygamists, and that the majority of male faithfuls seemed happy with just one wife. Our cabbie then started to rant about the fact that if polygamy laws weren't enforced for Mormons, they sure would be for Muslims like him, who would likely be discriminated by the American legal system. We asked him if he had several wives, but he said that since his family had been left behind in Jerusalem, he had to take several mistresses in America to provide him carnal comfort (what a great guy!)

He further kept on telling us that he didn't like Americans, found them far too venal and too permissive, and that he would never allow his three children (all teenagers and young adults) to live in such a depraved country. He particularly had a big issue with being able to physically discipline children as he saw fit, without being singled out as a child abuser. Quite obviously, our man was loaded with resentment about the United States and yet – by his own admission – could not tell us that he would return to Palestine for his retirement or to any other place in the world for that matter (we had asked him that specific question.) In the few short minutes we rode in his cab, this man managed to fully expose the complex case of contradiction he was. I have observed similar behaviors on a number of occasions with foreign-born U.S. Residents.

These individuals seem torn between their home culture and the comfort and convenience they extract out of their host country, yet they absolutely need to bite the hand that feeds them. Beyond finding this behavior as much appalling as hypocritical, I have a difficult time explaining why this is so and why some people need to vehemently attack and criticize the country that gives them the opportunity to truly thrive and yet give them total permission to freely voice their dissenting opinion. All this long anecdote to say that anger that's not vented almost always leads to irrational views and attitudes.